Companies House ‘enabling fraud’ by registering false addresses
COMPANIES House has been accused of being “an enabler of fraud” as figures show tens of thousands of people claim their addresses are being wrongly used to register businesses.
Companies House yesterday revealed that 40,927 people complained their addresses had been listed as an organisation’s main office without their permission over the past three years.
There were 20,940 reports in 2021-22 alone, up from 11,919 the previous year.
Over the same period, 8,891 people complained they had been listed as a company director without their permission. The disclosures came as MPS were warned that criminals can use other people’s personal information to register businesses with near impunity, because the corporate register does not verify the data submitted on applications. Setting up a company costs just £12 and takes about 20 minutes.
MPS on the business select committee were told of an example in Oldham where the address of almost every home in one street had been used to register companies without the real owners knowing. The companies were all registered by the same director, the BBC reported, and residents started receiving correspondence directed at the businesses.
Fraudulent companies are used to run scams or borrow money, leaving some homeowners who have their details stolen facing damaged credit ratings or even visits from the bailiffs.
Nick Van Benschoten, of UK Finance, told MPS: “We see quite a lot of the driver of fraud in information that’s been hacked, or people that have been scammed through online websites through spurious text messages.
“Companies House is definitely one of those enablers of fraud.”
While fraudsters face few barriers to using other people’s information, their victims must fill out paperwork and wait weeks to get it taken down.
Even if Companies House is informed of names and addresses being misused, it takes 28 days for the information to be altered under a process set by legislation.
Legal bills related to some cases can run to thousands of pounds, MPS were told.